Preparing for a changing workforce: A food and drink supply chain approach to skills
Developing home-grown talent and improving workforce skills is a key priority of the UK food and drink industry
Executive Summary
Introduction
The food and drink sector has a significant impact on the UK economy, employing
over 4 million
people spread across every nation, community and constituency in the UK.
Creating highly-skilled, well-paid, and home-grown talent is critical to
realising our potential, and
this can best be done by combining industry-led solutions to upskill and
attract
talent with related
government activities, particularly the ongoing reforms to technical education.
This report highlights the existing difficulty in recruiting and the expected
shortfall in labour and
skills availability but also identifies opportunities for the sector to come
together to deliver solutions
that will transform its image as an employer and advance its training and
skills
development.
Conclusions
Our research findings show that, while the sector's workforce is stable in terms
of its growth, staff
turnover and length of service, businesses have reported increasing
difficulties
in recruiting new
talent. Businesses recognise the need to act now to transform the sector's
image
and invest in
training and skills development for the longer term.
Our research dispels myths around the sector:
- Jobs in the food and drink sector are often perceived as low-skilled, but
businesses are in
fact looking to fill roles across all skill levels;
- Projections on the ageing workforce profile show that agriculture and
manufacturing are
close to the wider economy average and food service sectors are below average;
- The recruitment of temporary workers is not for cost-saving purposes – in fact,
they are
primarily recruited to manage demand changes;
- The majority of businesses measure productivity, tending to use measures based
on
margins; and
- Despite barriers, there is a recognition of the importance of apprenticeships in
training
existing staff and recruiting new talent.
Key results include:
- Skills gaps across the whole supply chain differed significantly. Management and
leadership,
was commonly identified as both a training and recruitment gap across all
sub-sectors.
- One third of levy-paying respondents are having to 'write the Levy off as a
tax', with key
reasons including: uncertainty of how best to use it, a lack of training
providers, and limited demand
from existing staff to train as an apprentice.
- Only 2% of businesses are spending their unused funds within the supply chain.
Recommendations
The recommendations below are the FDSC Workforce Skills Group's early
priorities, with further
work required in the next phase of the project to develop a clear
implementation
plan with specific
commitments from industry and working in partnership with government.
To deliver technical and management skills and attract future talent through
greater use of apprenticeships and offering T Level work placements across the
sector.
- Create a Food Sector pilot fund to optimise Apprenticeship Levy usage and ensure
access
for all, including SMEs
- Industry pledge to deliver T Level work placements
- Government to prioritise Apprenticeships that drive productivity
To improve accessibility, sustainability and quality of training provision for
sector
businesses of all sizes and located in all regions of the UK.
- Create a National Network of Providers leading on Food Engineering and Technical
skills
To professionalise leadership and managements skills across the sector; and to
ensure sector managers are prepared for a changing workplace.
- Professionalisation of leadership and management skills through third party
validation
- Place skills at the heart of a National Food Strategy to 'deliver well paid
jobs' across the
country
- Encourage passionate sector leaders to champion lifelong learning
Main Report
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Last reviewed: 24 Oct 2019